Screenshot uploaded by EddyMustar’s Facebook account. This account also wrote a report: “A strange animal appeared in Pakan Baru for two days. Its body resembles a bat but it swims in water. In Pekanbaru?
To check the above claim, the Tempo CekFakta Team searched the EddyMustar account’s photos and uploads using the reverse image tools Source, Yandex, and Google. The photo of an animal with webbing on its neck, arms, abdomen and legs resembling wings was uploaded on July 12, 2017 by the ISupportYourViews account on Imgur.com.
The photo was captioned “No trezle: It’s a baby coluga (colugo)”. Screenshot uploaded by the ISupportYourViews account on Imgur.com. Reporting from Wired, the colugo is a mammal that can jump from tree to tree up to 200 feet or about 60 meters. This ability is possessed by flying lemurs because this animal, commonly known as the flying lemur, has a membrane called the patagium that extends from its head to its tail.
Based on the above factual verification, the recent story that a swimming bat-bodied animal recently appeared in Pekanbaru is misleading. The animals in the photos and videos uploaded by the EddyMustar account are different animals. The animal in the photo is a lemur or colugo, which lives on land, not in water. The photo has been circulating online since 2017. The swimming animal in the video is a sea hare or sea hare.
